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Displaying entries 16 through 30 of 118 found.

Planetary Prodigy: A Global Sapiensphere Learns by Her/His Self

Taylor, P., et al. The Global Landscape of Cognition: Hierarchical Aggregation as an Organizational Principle of Human Cortical Networks and Functions. Nature Scientific Reports. 5/18112, 2019. As the deep neural network revolution began via theory and neuroimaging, UM Amherst neuroscientists including Hava Siegelmann attest to a nested connectome architecture which then serves cognitive achievements. On page 15, a graphic pyramid rises from a somatosensory, prosodic base through five stages to reason, language, visual concepts. Might one now imagine this scale as a personal ontogeny recap of life’s evolutionary sapient awakening? See Deep Neural Networks Abstract like Humans by Alex Gain and Hava Siegelmann at arXiv:1905.11515 for a 2019 version.

Floridi, Luciano. The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. The Oxford University philosopher and ethicist of information broadly conceived in natural and global domains, traces and tracks a “hyperhistory” by the relative presence of this knowledge-gaining, social mores quality. After sun-Earth, evolutionary, and psychological changes, today the novel world web as a sensory noosphere draws everyone altogether into interactive communication and shared cultures. With a notice of J. A. Wheeler’s bit to it model, in a realistic way life’s universe to human arc can be seen to take on an informational essence and vectorial course.

Who are we, and how do we relate to each other? Luciano Floridi, one of the leading figures in contemporary philosophy, argues that developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are changing the answer to these human questions. As the boundaries between life online and offline break down, and we become seamlessly connected to each other and surrounded by smart, responsive objects, we are all becoming integrated into an "infosphere". Following those led by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud, this metaphysical shift represents nothing less than a fourth revolution. In every department of life, ICTs have become environmental forces which are creating and transforming our realities. Floridi argues that we must expand our ecological and ethical approach to cover both natural and man-made realities. (Publisher)

Life in the Universe 2019: Big History, SETI and the Future of Humankind. bighistory.org/2019-life-in-the-universe-conference-information. This mid July conference in Milan, Italy by the International Big History Association has become a resident venue for visionary cosmists. Its preliminary program includes The Singularity in Big History by Andrey Korotayev (search), A History of Cosmic Habitability by Amedeo Balbi, Breakthrough Listen by Andrew Siemion, Energy Rate Density as a Technosignature by Clement Vidal and Evo-SETI: A Methematical Big History by Claudio Maccone.

Big History seeks to understand the integrated history of the Cosmos, Earth, Life, and Humanity, using the best available empirical evidence and scholarly methods. Almost a century ago, scientists gave us a new history of the cosmos by showing that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, was but one of an extraordinary number. In recent decades, scientists have located thousands of potentially habitable planets in just our own galaxy. Scientists at SETI are looking for evidence that there is (intelligent) life beyond Earth. What does it mean to the big history account when the lines from the Big Bang go not only to the Milky Way, Earth, life on Earth, and humanity, but in many other directions as well?

An Organic, Conducive, Habitable MultiUniVerse

Kiukas, Jukka, et al. Complementary Observables in Quantum Mechanics. Foundations of Physics. Online April, 2019. Aberystwyth University, UK and University of Turku, Finland mathematicians contribute to a special issue about the esteemed University of York physicist Paul Busch (1955-2018) with whom they collaborated with for years. They advance Busch’s insights and expressions that natural phenomena tends to ever seek and reside in a dynamic duality, rather than a single state. Albeit by way unfamiliar terms and mathematical depth, a salient conclusion can be broached. This fantastic spacescape whence we find ourselves, which is yet amenable to our inquiry, is indeed distinguished by reciprocal archetypes at each and every instance. The authors open with a quote (see below) from his 1997 paper which suggests an “unsharp” milieu that is in some critical poise between complements, rather than a one thing theory. His Quantum Research Page is still online (paulbusch.wixsite.com/research-page) where an array of papers and conferences can be accessed. A special journal issue about Paul Busch is forthcoming, to which this belongs. See also Quantum Reality, Perspectivalism and Covariance by Dennis Dieks at arXiv:1905.05097 for another entry.

We review the notion of complementarity of observables in quantum mechanics, as formulated and studied by Paul Busch and his colleagues over the years. In addition, we provide further clarification on the operational meaning of the concept, and present several characterisations of complementarity—some of which new—in a unified manner, as a consequence of a basic factorisation lemma for quantum effects. We work out several applications, including the canonical cases of position–momentum, position–energy, number–phase, as well as periodic observables relevant to spatial interferometry. We close the paper with some considerations of complementarity in a noisy setting, focusing especially on the case of convolutions of position and momentum, which was a recurring topic in Paul’s work on operational formulation of quantum measurements and central to his philosophy of unsharp reality. (Abstract)

We hope to have demonstrated that one can safely open a pair of complementary ‘eyes’ simultaneously. He who does so may even ‘see more’ than with one eye only. The means of observation being part of the physical world, Nature Herself protects him from seeing too much and at the same time protects Herself from being questioned too closely: quantum reality, as it emerges under physical observation, is intrinsically unsharp. It can be forced to assume sharp contours – real properties – by performing repeatable measurements. But sometimes unsharp measurements will be both, less invasive and more informative. (Operational Quantum Physics Paul Busch 1997)

Bahcall, Neta. The Dark Side of the Universe. carnegiescience.edu/events/lectures/dark-side-universe. A Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington public lecture to be given on June 25, 2019 by the esteemed Princeton University astrophysicist. The quote below glimpses the latest views on the whole scale composition of this awesome cosmos, which yet seems readily amenable to our human description.

Of what is the universe made? Not only is most of the matter in the universe dark and unconventional but, surprisingly, the major component of the universe may be "dark energy" — a form of energy that opposes the pull of gravity and causes the universe's expansion to accelerate. By combining recent observations of clusters and large-scale structures, distant supernovae, and the cosmic microwave background radiation, we find evidence for a universe comprised of 5 percent normal atomic matter, 20 percent non-atomic dark matter, and 75 percent "dark energy." The observations suggest a universe that is lightweight. With only 25 percent of its critical mass-density needed to halt the universal expansion, the universe will likely expand forever. Dr. Bahcall will discuss the observations of the dark side of the universe and their implications.

Barack, Leor, et al. Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics. Classical and Quantum Gravity. 36/143001, 2019. We cite this entry among many as an example of today’s Earhtwise collaborative, multi-author (some 200 here) research projects as they proceed apace with humankinder’s self-quantitative discovery of a genesis uniVerse. The 272 page document is posted as 1806.05195 on the arXiv eprint site, search Samaya Nissanke among names for follow up studies such as A Unique Multi-Messenger Signal of QCD Axion Dark Matter (1905.04686). Within the broad Natural PhiloSophia purview of this resource site, we are invited to appreciate and recognize this phenomenal Earth capability and achievement of cosmic significance.

The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics - dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem - all involve gravity as a key component. And of all gravitational phenomena, black holes stand out in their elegant simplicity, while harbouring some of the most remarkable predictions of General Relativity: event horizons, singularities and ergoregions. The purpose of this work is to present a concise, yet comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the relevant fields of research, summarize important open problems, and lay out a roadmap for future progress. (Abstract)

Courtois, Helene. Finding Our Place in the Universe: How We Discovered Laniakea – the Milky Way’s Home. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019. A University of Lyon astrophysicist and author gifts us with a latest exposition of our vast galactic celestial neighborhood. Chapter 1 is Our New Cosmic Address. The popular volume chronicles her collaborative research projects toward learning all about location, location.

You are here on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. How can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster. She explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones.

Strom, Allison. The DNA of Galaxies. carnegiescience.edu/GalaxyDNA. A Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington public lecture by the Carnegie-Princeton astrophysicist which was presented on April 29, 2019. Again the summary invites an engaging view of galactic phenomena.

Like people, each of the billions of galaxies in the universe developed its own unique traits over a complicated lifetime. Until recently, astronomers have only been able to study galaxies closest to the Milky Way in detail, leaving much of the universe's history a mystery. Dr. Strom will show how astronomers are now using the world's largest telescopes to determine the chemical DNA of even very distant galaxies, and how this information is answering key questions about how galaxies like our own formed and evolved.

Bogdanov, Yu, et al. Quantum Approach to the Dynamical Systems Modeling. arXiv:1906.06410. We cite this Russian Academy of Sciences paper as an example into the later 2010s of how a worldwide noosphere phase has come to view and treat this once arcane domain by the same mathematical complexity methods as everywhere else.

We present a general approach to the classical dynamical systems simulation. This approach is based on classical systems extension to quantum states. The proposed theory can be applied to analysis of multiple (including non-Hamiltonian) dissipative dynamical systems. As examples, we consider the logistic model, the Van der Pol oscillator, dynamical systems of Lorenz, Rössler (including Rössler hyperchaos) and Rabinovich-Fabrikant. Developed methods and algorithms integrated in quantum simulators will allow us to solve a wide range of problems with scientific and practical significance. (Abstract)

Dalla Chiara, Maria Luisa, et al, eds. Quantum Computation and Logic. International: Springer, 2018. The editors are MLDC, University of Florence, Roberto Giuniti and Giuseppe Sergioli, University of Cagliari, and Roberto Leporini, University of Bergamo. We cite because the volume well conveys 21st century ways that micro quantum phenomena is gaining novel properties with an affinity with macro “classical” phases. An informational essence lends to algorithmic exercises, logic circuits and onto linguistic and musical compositions.

Linde, Andrei. Universe or Multiverse?. carnegiescience.edu/events/lectures/universe-or-multiverse. A Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington public lecture to be given on June 27, 2019 by the Russian-American Stanford University astrophysicist and 1980s co-founder with Alan Guth of inflationary theory. (Search AL for recent verifications via the Planck satellite and more.) We also cite for its notable perception of multiple cosmoses. (I heard Andrei give his first public lecture in the US in 1983 at Harvard where he used overheads of fractal bubbling cosmoses, so he remains much on message.)

Cosmological observations show that on the largest scales accessible to our telescopes, the universe is very uniform, and the same laws of physics operate in all the parts of it that we can see. Rather paradoxically, the theory that explains this uniformity also predicts that on extremely large scales, the situation may look totally different. Instead of being a single spherically symmetric balloon, our universe may look like a multiverse—a collection of many different exponentially large balloons with different laws of physics operating in each. In the beginning, this picture looked more like a piece of science fiction than a scientific theory. However, recent developments in inflationary cosmology, particle physics, and string theory provide strong evidence supporting this new cosmological paradigm.

Robles-Perez, Salvador. Quantum Cosmology in the Light of Quantum Mechanics. Galaxies. 7/2, 2019. In this MDPI journal, a Spanish mathematician (search) continues his studies which are a good example of how human collective sapience can readily cast imaginative quantifications across any breadth and depth of this awesome presence. Again we beg to ask whoever are we infinitesimal peoples to be able to envision, describe and take forth this grand vista?

There is a formal analogy between the evolution of the universe, when it is seen as a trajectory in the minisuperspace, and the worldline followed by a test particle in a curved spacetime. The analogy can be extended to the quantum realm, where the trajectories are transformed into wave packets that give us the probability of finding the universe or the particle in a given point of their respective spaces: spacetime in the case of the particle and minisuperspace for the universe. The wave function of the spacetime and the matter fields altogether can then be seen as a super-field that propagates in the minisuperspace. The super-field can thus be interpreted as made up of universes propagating, i.e., evolving, in the minisuperspace. (Abstract excerpt)

Sandora, McCullen. Multiverse Predictions for Habitability: Fraction of Life that Develops Intelligence. arXiv:1904.11796. The fourth installment by the Tufts University cosmologist of his studies (search) of an apparent multicosmos milieu. The first three entries dealt with the number and properties of stars, how many habitable planets may be there, and the fraction of planets that develop life. In this edition, the relative presence of candidate suns, earths, and (micro) organisms informs what conditions are necessary for intelligent beings to evolve and emerge. His approach, as the Abstract notes, is to evaluate the many cometary, radiative and geologic cataclysms which could wipe out any sentient phase. The second long quote is a good synopsis, might we add a “Cosmotropic” significance? To reflect on it all, how curious to reach such a scenario, some 400 years after Galileo, whence a most favored universe seems to bring forth its own self-retrospective witness. What human identity and purpose might ever be realized?

Do mass extinctions affect the development of intelligence? If so, we may expect to be in a universe that is exceptionally placid. We consider the effects of impacts, supervolcanoes, global glaciations, and nearby gamma ray bursts, and how their rates depend on fundamental constants. It is interesting that despite the very disparate nature of these processes, each occurs on timescales of 100 Myr-Gyr. We argue that this is due to a selection effect that favors both tranquil locales within our universe, as well as tranquil universes. Taking gamma ray bursts to be the sole driver of mass extinctions is disfavored in multiverse scenarios, as the rate is much lower for different values of the fundamental constants. In contrast, geological causes of extinction are very compatible with the multiverse. Various frameworks for the effects of extinctions are investigated, and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis is found to be most compatible with the multiverse. (Abstract)

To recapitulate our results: the number of habitable stars in the universe is the backbone of this computation, and this factor exerts a pressure to live in universes with stronger gravity. The fraction of stars that have planets, on the other hand, was relatively insensitive to the laws of physics. The most important factor was found to be the fraction of planets that develop life. This was sensitive to the assumptions made, and led to many predictions for the distribution of life throughout our universe. The fraction of planets that develop intelligence can be similarly constraining. The follow-up we performed about the deleterious effects of mass extinctions, does not play as large a role, but can still be nontrivial. There is one final factor which we have not discussed, which is the average number of observers per civilization. However, we refrain from incorporating into our present analysis, because it is hard to say much about this factor without veering into speculation. The viewpoint here is “it takes a village to raise a question,” that is, the consciousness you enjoy is not wholly your own, but is in part inherited from the whole history of society. By shifting the selection pressure onto the civilization rather than the individual, sidesteps this complication completely. (30-31, edits)

Cao, Yudong, et al. Quantum Chemistry in the Age of Quantum Computing. arXiv:1812.09976. This is a 194 page, 404 citation paper by a 14 member team based at Alan Aspuru-Gizik’s University of Toronto lab with other credits at Harvard, MIT, University of Waterloo, Intel, Macquarie University and the Czech Republic Academy of Sciences. It is a worldwise, humankinder example of current integrations of micro quantum and macro classical realms into a seamless organic milieu. See also Quantum Computational Chemistry by this extended group at 1808.10402.

Practical challenges in simulating quantum systems on classical computers have been widely recognized in the quantum physics and chemistry communities over the past years. By manipulating quantum states of matter and taking advantage of their unique features such as superposition and entanglement, novel quantum computers can deliver accurate results for many important problems such as the electronic structure of molecules. This article is an overview of the algorithms and results that are relevant for quantum chemistry. (Abstract)

One of the most promising applications of quantum computing is solving classically intractable chemistry problems. This may enable the design of new materials, medicines, catalysts, or high temperature superconductors. As a result, quantum computational chemistry is rapidly emerging as an interdisciplinary knowledge of both quantum information and computational chemistry. (1808.10402 excerpt)

Fuchling, Franz, et al. Morphogenesis as Bayesian Inference: A Variational Approach to Pattern Formation and Control in Complex Biological Systems. Physics of Life Reviews. Online June, 2019. FF and Michael Levin, Tufts University, Georgi Georgiev, Assumption College, MA and Karl Friston, Wellcome Trust Centre, UK continue their collegial efforts to envision and articulate a self-organizing, composing, vivifying, learning, evolution of life’s phenomenal complexity and consciousness. A common iterative, computational process thus seems in procreative effect as a natural selective optimization from somatic creatures and to sensory cerebral form and dynamics.

Recent advances in molecular biology such as gene editing, bioelectric recording and live cell microscopy can now measure molecular signaling pathways with spatiotemporal precision. However, an overarching concept that can predict the emergent form of complex anatomy is largely missing. In this (neurobiology) setting, a variational free energy principle has emerged based upon self-organization via active Bayesian inference. For biological processes such as development or regeneration, this model treats cells as information processing agents. The free energy principle applied to pattern formation promises a quantitative formalism for cellular decision-making in the context of embryogenesis, regeneration, and cancer suppression. We derive the mathematics behind Bayesian inference and use simulations to show how it can better explain complex morphogenesis. (Abstract excerpt)

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